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The complex feeding technique used by zoo staff helps prevent the chick from imprinting on humans

Photos
/Credit Bronx Zoo

Video
/Credit Bronx Zoo

New York, April 29, 2025 – A king vulture chick at the Bronx Zoo is being hand-raised using a technique developed more than 40 years ago which helps prevent the young bird from imprinting on humans.

The chick, hatched February 25, is being hand-raised to ensure its successful development as some vulture parents can be neglectful toward their chicks. This king vulture chick’s genetics are valuable to the king vulture zoo population as its father, who is 55 years old, only has one other living descendent.  It is also the first king vulture hatched at the Bronx Zoo since the 1990’s. The sex of the chick has not yet been determined.

The technique that is being used to raise the chick was first practiced at the zoo more than 40 years ago when staff hand-raised Andean condors using a hand puppet designed to look like an adult bird. A keeper disguises themselves with a costume, hiding their face and other human features, and uses the hand puppet to feed the bird inside a brooder which serves as a nest for the chick. In 1980, three Bronx Zoo Andean condor chicks were raised using this same technique and brought to northwestern Peru and then released in 1981 into the wild. This technique, which the Bronx Zoo helped to develop, is also successfully used by zoos to raise and release the Critically Endangered California condor back to parts of its historic range. The vulture hand puppet was designed and made by the Bronx Zoo’s artists in its Exhibition and Graphic Arts Department. The information keepers collect when hand raising birds is shared with other zoos for the continual improvement of husbandry techniques and with others working in the field who are focused on wild bird populations.

Chuck Cerbini, Bronx Zoo Curator of Ornithology stated: “This technique used in hand-raising the vulture chick incorporates the expertise from many at the zoo including the animal care staff, veterinarians, and artists. It is a good example of the extent we go to ensure the health of individual animals and of species’ populations. At this stage of development, our animal care staff are feeding the chick with the Bronx Zoo-made puppet once a day and we are working to ensure it does not imprint on humans. In an adjacent, separate enclosure to the chick, is an adult king vulture which allows the chick to have exposure to appropriate king vulture behavior. That’s another important step we take to ensure the chick grows into a healthy adult bird and is properly socialized as a king vulture.”

King vulture chicks are born with white down feathers and will gradually start developing juvenile feathers in its fourth month. The juvenile will not have full adult plumage until about four years of age. 

The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) classifies the king vulture as "Least Concern.” The species, found from southern Mexico to northern Argentina and northern Uruguay, has a stable population but habitat destruction and poaching are causing some declines.   

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The Bronx Zoo
The Bronx Zoo, located on 265 acres of hardwood forest in Bronx, NY, opened on Nov. 8, 1899. It is world-renowned for its leadership in the areas of animal welfare, husbandry, veterinary care, education, science and conservation. The zoo is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and is the flagship park of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) which manages the world’s largest network of urban wildlife parks including the Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo, Queens Zoo and New York Aquarium. Our curators and animal care staff work to save, propagate, and sustain populations of threatened and endangered species. We have educated and inspired more than 400 million visitors at our zoos and aquarium since our opening and host approximately 4 million guests at our parks each year – including about a half-million students annually. The Bronx Zoo is the largest youth employer in the borough of the Bronx, providing opportunity and helping to transform lives in one of the most under-served communities in the nation. The Bronx Zoo is the subject of THE ZOO, a docu-series aired world-wide on Animal Planet. Members of the media should contact [email protected] (+1 (347) 840-1242) for more information or with questions.